The Fear of the Lord

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matthew 24:7-13)

Because this Scripture accurately describes the days in which we live, it has a tendency to strike fear into our hearts. We are fearful because we wonder if we could possibly stand firm to the end under such terrifying conditions. We are truly in the "beginning of birth pains" - with wars, famines, earthquakes, false prophets and wickedness all around us. Jesus called them "birth pains" because He wanted us to know these events would be growing closer and closer together, like a mother's labor pains. Indeed they are. If you are watching, you know that the false "one-world-religion" and "one-world-government" are even now forming and taking shape.

But this morning in our Sabbath worship, our pastors gave us wonderful, sound counsel about fear. If we would return to a true fear of the Lord, we would not fear men. If we truly had a profound, awesome reverence for Yahweh, the King of the Universe, and feared only what HE might do, we would be free from fear of these times -- because we know we can trust HIM to act for our highest good. The false prophets of our day, and counterfeit religions and revivals, are nothing new. They are simply the original lie, re-wrapped in new packaging. Remember Satan's original lie in Genesis 3? "Eat the fruit of the tree...you will surely not die...you will be like God." Men who are convinced they are "enlightened" and "like gods" simply have no fear of the Holy One of Israel!

Psalm 111:10 says "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding."
Psalm 112:1 says, "Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who finds great delight in His commands."
Proverbs 14:7 says, "The fear of Yahweh is a foundation of life, turning a man from the snares of death."
Psalm 33:18 says, "The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine."
Exodus 20:20 says, "Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.'"

Clearly the appropriate, reverent fear of our mighty God is connected with our salvation and protection from sin and death! How is it connected? Those who fear God do follow His precepts, do find delight in His commands, and do have wisdom and understanding. To walk in Torah (His commands) is to fear God and to seek HIS heart and mind, HIS ways - and these are the ones He delivers from death and famine.

I believe it is a critically important message for these days. It is, after all, at the very center, the very heart of His Book! The verse at the very center of the Bible is this:
Psalm 118:8: "It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to trust in man."

The fear of the Lord keeps us from fearing man. Psalm 118:6 says, "The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" If we allow Him to truly write these words on our hearts, we will be able to stand firm to the end. The apostle Paul says, "Finally be strong in the Lord and in HIS mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to STAND." (The Greek word here for stand is histemi and the definitions are listed as: "stand up, hold up or covenant)." Ah yes! The armor of God is His Word - and those in covenant with Him will stand! HalleuYah!

The Promise Keeper!

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and He said, "I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendents will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised. (Genesis 28:10-15).

Yesterday as I drove home from the Denver airport I saw a beautiful display in the sky. Normally one can see rays of light, especially near the time of sunset, that seem to come from out of the clouds and reach down to the earth. They are usually brilliant white rays, and it is easy to imagine that angels are descending from heaven upon that "stairway." But yesterday the vision was opposite. The rays were the same deep, dark blue as the mountains in the west, and they seemed to go upward instead of white rays coming down from the clouds. These deep blue rays were perfect in form and seemed to have their beginnings in the top of the mountain, reaching upward toward heaven. "These angels are ascending," I thought to myself. Perhaps their assignment here is completed!

Then I thought of the horrific tornado and storms that had passed over this part of northern Colorado on Thursday. While I was in the Seattle for the past five days, the tornado struck 1/2 mile from where my parents live, turned west just before touching the small town where my kids and grandkids and I live, and though it damaged much property in the small community of Windsor, a day-care center with 130 children was kept safe through the center of the storm! Surely angels were assigned there. Yet what does Yeshua say about this vision we often refer to as "Jacob's ladder?" In John 1:51 He says, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

This is a thrilling statement! The "stairway" or "ladder" of Jacob was the same Man Jacob wrestled with in the night! It is Adonai Tzava'ot, Captain of the Angel Armies, Jesus our Lord, who commands the angels and commands the winds and the storms to obey. And it is He who was being revealed to Jacob in that place where the stairway appeared, for it was the very message of the Gospel being proclaimed to Jacob! "All peoples will be blessed through you and your offspring." Through the seed of Jacob and Isaac would come forth the Messiah who would bring salvation to the world.

But it is also critically important to remember that God also made a promise about the Land: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised." What had God promised? He promised that all of that Covenant Land would belong to Jacob and Isaac and their descendants forever; and that He would bring all their people back to that Land where the Messiah would restore all things and establish His Kingdom there forever!

Until this comes to pass - until the nations of the world stop pressuring Israel and the Jewish people to give up their Covenant land and until we repent, and search the skies for the coming of the One who will descend again with the angels in great power and glory - the world will continue to groan and shake and reel. Wars will continue to escalate and famines and plagues will increase - and all because Yahweh watches over His promise - His Covenant - to faithfully keep it!

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Perhaps some of you have become aware of the so-called "revival" being led by Todd Bentley in Lakeland, Florida. God TV has been broadcasting it live for several weeks now, and so it is gaining tremendous attention worldwide. I write this caution to all who will hear: we have been warned that signs and wonders would also be performed by the devil in the last days.

It is awesome to see how many people are so deeply hungry for a touch of the Spirit of God; many are flying to Florida from around the world, just hoping for a healing and a "visitation" of the Holy Spirit. But in these times, my friends, we MUST have keen discernment. We have been warned about the wolves in sheep's clothing. I speak this way because I experienced Todd Bentley's ministry first-hand. I traveled with one of his mission teams to South America several years ago - and by the time I returned home I was deeply disturbed by much of what I heard and saw. While on this mission Todd was getting more tattoos and body piercing, and had his hair dyed orange. He did not associate with us as a team, and we were told that was because he spent his days in "private prayer." But one day he did meet with us and instructed us to lie on the floor for four hours and "practice entering the third heaven." We were told that by practicing it, we could eventually work our way into this experience (as if WE could make such a miracle happen!) On the last day of our trip Todd decided he wanted to stay in a fancy hotel and said the rest of us were booked in a "flea bag motel" (his words). He asked who else wanted to stay in the fancy hotel at their own expense. All but one person (and myself) raised their hands - and I knew this one person to be financially poor. Todd made fun of him and told him to "enjoy his night at the flea bag motel." It was in that moment that I knew Todd Bentley was not walking in the Spirit of the God I know.

In Hebrew the word our Bible uses as "visitation" is actually the word "inspection." The revival in Lakeland, FL is completely devoid of any preaching of repentance. I have watched it on TV. There is angel worship, there is healing, and there is supposedly "gold teeth" appearing in people's mouths, but there is NO CALL TO REPENTANCE. As Pastor Francis Frangipane wrote this week, "What of the multitudes that followed Jesus into the wilderness whom He fed the loaves and fishes --- didn't they recognize the uniqueness of this hour? Obviously, the crowds were very familiar with the healing, miraculous dimensions of a visitation (see Luke 4:14-19; Isaiah 61:1-2). Yet, when God comes in visitation He is seeking two unfolding realities: to destroy the works of the devil and then build His kingdom into the lives of the newly healed. He does not come to heal us so we can drift back into our old lives. He heals us so He can transform us into His image. You see, the word visitation not only means a time of healing; it also refers to a time of inspection, of being examined closely. God not only participates in the joy of our deliverance, He is also examining us to see if we will now respond in increasing obedience.
Our obedience actually creates a different future for us, one that is blessed. Yet, if we do not respond, there are calamities awaiting also. He tells the newly healed to "not sin anymore" lest something worse happen (John 5:14). To the delivered He warns that, if their soul remains unoccupied after having their inner lives cleansed and put in order, the "last state of that man becomes worse than the first" (Matt. 12:45). You see, at the very moment God removes our burdens, He is also removing our excuses.

I personally have been following the Lakeland revival on God.tv. While my heart swells with joy, I also fear. For when we cry for a holy visitation, we are crying for God’s kingdom --- the very reign of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. My concern is, when we entreat the Almighty for His kingdom, are we truly ready to surrender ours?"

Winning the Match

"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us. He has injured us, but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us that we may live in His Presence." - Hosea 6:1-2

When Jacob was in the process of seeking God, questioning, searching, learning who He really is, He wrestled with the Lord all night. In the physical, this story shows us a literal wrestling match resulting in a permanent limp in Jacob's hip. In the spiritual, we grasp the understanding of why our sovereign, merciful God would allow something like the cyclone in Myanmar - a horrendous wrestling match indeed! "He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us. He has injured us, but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us that we may live in His Presence."

The "two days" represent the two thousand years since the coming of Messiah, when the Truth of the Gospel has gone forth from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Every single person who finds this Truth and believes will spend eternity in His Presence at the Third Day (Resurrection!) With World Vision and other Christian relief efforts now in Myanmar giving Yeshua's LOVE in the form of rice and shelter, an oppressed people can be reached and healed.

And, it is true for each one of us. We all have our own personal wrestling matches. In the great book "Your God is Too Safe," author Mark Buchanan writes: "I have met so many people who were never really blessed until they strove against God, were wounded, were given both a new identity and a haunting question, and who discovered in the most unlikely place, the most unexpected Face - the Face of God. These are people who never danced until they limped."

In my own journal from 2002 I wrote about my most intense time of seeking God with all my heart and soul - all alone in Florida: "Yes, I remember those moments so well. Agonizing, painful moments of deafening silence; searching heart, tear-stained face. Hours of staring out a small window at lizards and tree frogs stuck to the pane or darting along the vines. Mounds of sweat dripping off my brow in early morning mowing. Nobody was there by the "Man" who would hold me one minute and crush me the next; who encouraged me to persevere, but then knocked me to the floor. Yes, Jacob, I wrestled with Him too - and yes, I won the match also, because I lost it. Losing my life was the victory."

Look to Me, Your Maker!

Since the U.S. has continued its policy of pressuring Israel into giving away her land we have had a tornado strike Mt. Zion Church in Jerusalem, Arkansas, a 6-foot-wide hole on the Temple Mount itself (from an earthquake that struck Lebanon and Israel), an earthquake in Mt. Carmel, Illinois, and TODAY A TORNADO THAT STRUCK DAMASCUS, ARKANSAS AND SILOAM SPRINGS, ARKANSAS!

By now, is there anyone - ANYONE? - out there who doubts that the King of the Universe is speaking to us? Is ANYONE ELSE able to cause the earth to shift and the winds to rage so precisely that they strike single, small spots with significant NAMES of ISRAEL?

As Israel toys with the idea of giving away land in the Golan Heights to Syria, the LORD strikes the small town of Damascus in Arkansas, as a warning, a caution, a reminder of who HE IS and WHERE HE HAS PUT HIS NAME. Yet, in His great mercy He has not yet stricken the Damascus of the Bible, as prophesied by Isaiah 17:1,7: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city, but will become a heap of ruins. In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands."

This is His message, isn't it? How much more precise, accurate and clear could He be? "Look to Me, your Maker, the Holy One of Israel! Stop trusting in the strength of men and governments! I alone am your Salvation (your Yeshua); I alone am your Peace (your shalom)!

And the Lord speaks this oracle against Damascus:
Isaiah 17:12-14: "Oh, the raging of many nations - they rage like the raging sea. O, the uproar of the peoples - they roar like the roaring of great waters! Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when He rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us."

Here is the AP news report about today's tornado, which also struck the town of Siloam Springs. There is an absolutely ASTONISHING parallel in Scripture. Read on:
DAMASCUS, Ark. (AP) - Violent storms rolling across the nation's midsection killed seven people in Arkansas today, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom and a father and son when a possible tornado hit their mobile home.The storms spawned numerous tornadoes in much of Arkansas, where some 350 homes were damaged or destroyed. Emergency officials said at least two schools and a fire station were damaged.The 15-year-old girl died in the early morning as she slept and her 10-year-old brother suffered minor injuries when the storm hit their mobile home in a working-class neighborhood of Siloam Springs.

In Luke Chapter 13 we find an amazing message from the Lord Jesus. He is actually answering the question here of why some die in natural disasters, even if they are good people. We might be asking, "Why did this teenager have to suddenly die in this "freak accident" in Siloam when a tree fell into her bedroom? Was she being punished because she was a terrible sinner?

RUINS OF THE TOWER OF SILOAM IN ISRAEL

Luke 13:3-5, Jesus says, "I tell you no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Of those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! BUT UNLESS YOU REPENT, YOU TOO WILL ALL PERISH."

Astonishing parallel - from 2,000+ years ago to today - in a place called Siloam - the Lord cries out to His people with the same message. After all...in John Chapter 9, Jesus sent the blind man to the POOL OF SILOAM and told him, "Wash and you will SEE."

On my knees I pray that many are washing...and hearing...and seeing...